Local agencies reflect on ways substance abuse affects community

Published: Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 08:58 PM.

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“In Lenoir County, the age children are trying a prescription drug for the first time to get high is 9 years old,” she said. “We have children in our schools right now in Lenoir County taking pills anywhere from Tylenol to blood pressure medication because they think it looks cool to their other friends.

“That is a sad reality.”

Ruiz suggested people prevent prescription drug abuse by asking their doctor or pharmacy for lower dosages. Additionally, a permanent drug drop box is available at the Kinston Department of Public Safety, which the P.E.A.C.E. foundation had placed in memory of Kaitlyn. The box accumulates nearly five pounds each week in efforts to prevent substance abuse.

“Prescription drug abuse crosses every socioeconomic background there is,” Ruiz said. “It is not black, white or Hispanic. It is everyone’s problem.”

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.

Etta Rouse not only turned her life around by opening Kinston Assessment Treatment and Services — she stayed clean.

She is a recovering alcoholic who hasn’t had a drink in more than 25 years and works today as a certified substance abuse counselor.

“I think most people start (substance abuse) as experimenting,” Rouse said. “Mine was just a social thing to begin with. I went through a lot of crisis.”

One predicament involved a parting from her first husband.

“We separated,” she said, “and when we did, I just took a bath in it. I certainly did not plan to become an alcoholic. … Whether I inherited the factor for it or not, I drank myself into alcoholism.”

She said that as of 2001, there were 100,800 Alcoholics Anonymous support groups in 150 countries.

Rouse went through treatment in Greensboro and in Pitt County before moving back to Kinston and opening the substance assessment center on Caswell Street.

Although the clients are mostly referrals from underage drinking or driving while intoxicated charges, Rouse said alcoholism and drug abuse are major issues in Lenoir County. She said marijuana is what people abuse most in the county — and the drug is somehow thriving.

“Marijuana is probably the No. 1 illegal drug in this county,” Rouse said. “I’ve seen an awful lot of it in this county. Where it is coming from, I don’t know, but it is alive and well.”

Once people are convicted, if referred to K.A.T.S., they must complete some form of treatment. Rouse said to prevent their visit in the first place, it takes family and self-support.

“If your body doesn’t suffer from it, the people who are around you and closest to you will suffer from it,” she said. “I was a drunk and (it made) my family crazy.”

In Lenoir County, agency representatives said substance abuse also affects the community, sometimes in the form of gang violence and other criminal activity.

“People involved in substance abuse generally are not going to be as productive as other citizens are,” said Bill Johnson, director of the Kinston Department of Public Safety. “Some of the tie-in with substance abuse also leads to, or sometimes involves, gang activity.”

He said KDPS collaborates with partners in the city to prevent the abuse. The department hosts a program at Rochelle Middle School to discourage gang activity and highlight the dangers of substance abuse.

“We see it from teenagers on up,” Johnson said. “You have varying types of substances out there. … We see a lot of prescription drug abuse now.”

Shannon Rouse Ruiz lost her 16-year-old daughter to a prescription drug overdose in June of 2011. Kaitlyn suffered a chemically induced coma after taking a combination of Fentanyl and Xanex, which lead to her brain death.

Ruiz said Kaitlyn, who struggled with a prescription addiction for two years, was unaware of those drugs’ effects. Before her daughter’s passing, Ruiz herself wasn’t as educated about prescription drug dangers.

She started P.E.A.C.E. (Prescription Education Abuse Counseling and Empowerment) Prevention and Education less than two months after Kaitlyn’s death, which is attached to the P.E.A.C.E. Boutique, a thrift shop where proceeds are donated to prevention programs.

“Once (parents) realize there is a problem, they don’t know where to turn to get help,” Ruiz said of prescription drug abuse. “I was one of those moms. That’s one of the biggest reasons why our programs surround communication and education.

“We want parents to know the things I did not know.”

She said P.E.A.C.E. programs educate parents on where to look for drugs and what they look like. Ruiz said teens will try their parents’ prescribed medication as a popular trend.

“In Lenoir County, the age children are trying a prescription drug for the first time to get high is 9 years old,” she said. “We have children in our schools right now in Lenoir County taking pills anywhere from Tylenol to blood pressure medication because they think it looks cool to their other friends.

“That is a sad reality.”

Ruiz suggested people prevent prescription drug abuse by asking their doctor or pharmacy for lower dosages. Additionally, a permanent drug drop box is available at the Kinston Department of Public Safety, which the P.E.A.C.E. foundation had placed in memory of Kaitlyn. The box accumulates nearly five pounds each week in efforts to prevent substance abuse.

“Prescription drug abuse crosses every socioeconomic background there is,” Ruiz said. “It is not black, white or Hispanic. It is everyone’s problem.”

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.